The present invention relates to an automatic performance device such as a sequencer, automatic bass chord accompaniment device or automatic rhythm performance device, and more particularly to an automatic performance device which is capable of facilitating performance data storage and retrieval.
Automatic performance devices are known which store, as automatic performance data, such performance data produced, for example, by the manual operation (key depression) on a keyboard of an electronic musical instrument and generate tones by sequentially reproducing the thus-stored automatic performance data.
In the conventional automatic performance devices, performance data of dozens of music pieces can be stored in a performance memory, and desired performance data are reproduced by suitably operating switches provided on a operation panel.
Typically, the performance memory has plural storage areas in such a manner that the performance data of a different music piece can be stored in each of the storage areas. Typically, to store the performance data, a write instructing switch is operated, and a predetermined input operation is made to instruct a desired music piece number. In response to such operations, series of performance data input via the keyboard are written into a storage area corresponding to the instructed music piece number. To reproductively read out the performance data, a predetermined reproduction instructing switch is operated, and a predetermined operation to instruct a desired music piece number is made. In response to such operations, a series of the performance data are read out from the storage area corresponding to the instructed music piece number, and automatic performance tones are generated on the basis of the read-out performance data.
However, the typical conventional technique for writing and reading out the performance data is disadvantageous in that it requires the troublesome switch operations to instruct the write and readout of the data. Further, for reproductively reading out the performance data, it is necessary to accurately instruct the number of a desired music piece from among many music piece numbers, which is also troublesome. Namely, it is difficult or impossible to remember the numbers of all music pieces to be selectively read out from among the dozens of the stored music pieces: if the number of a desired music piece is forgotten, it is not possible to easily designate the desired music piece.
In Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 58-220189, there is disclosed a technique which allows a desired music piece to be easily searched out from among many music pieces stored in a performance data memory. More specifically, according to the disclosed technique, performance data on a leading phrase of a desired music piece are input by the player's key depression operation on a keyboard, and it is detected in which part of the data memory the desired music piece is stored by making a comparison between the input performance data and the performance data on the leading phrase of each of the plural music pieces stored in the data memory. However, this prior publication only discloses a technique for searching the performance data in the performance data memory, but it discloses nothing about writing desired performance data into a memory and minimizing the time and labors required for making write and readout instructions in writing and reading desired performance to and from the memory. In particular, the prior publication discloses nothing about storing the input performance data from the keyboard into the performance data memory. Further, with the disclosed technique, it is necessary to operate a search switch each time it is desired to search for a music piece number in the performance data memory, and it is also necessary to operate a start switch each time it is desired to start a reproductive performance of the searched out music piece. As the result, the switch operations must be repeated many times for repeating the search and reproductive performance.